Summary
Overview:
A moderate security vulnerability has been identified in Uptime Kuma platform that poses a significant threat to the confidentiality and integrity of user accounts.
When a user changes their login password in Uptime Kuma, a previously logged-in user retains access without being logged out.
This behaviour persists consistently, even after system restarts or browser restarts.
This vulnerability allows unauthorized access to user accounts, compromising the security of sensitive information.
The same vulnerability was partially fixed in https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma/security/advisories/GHSA-g9v2-wqcj-j99g but logging existing users out of their accounts was forgotten.
PoC
- Change the password for a user account
- Access the platform using the previously logged-in account without logging out
- Note that access (read-write) remains despite the password change
- Expected behaviour:
After changing the password for a user account, all previously logged-in sessions should be invalidated, requiring users to log in again with the updated credentials. - Actual behaviour:
The system retains sessions and never logs out users unless explicitly done by clicking logout.
Timeline:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2023-12-07 14:35 UTC | @manoonabbasi discovered and posts this information as a bug-report in issue #4188 [^1] into our public issue tracker, which is against our security policy |
| 2023-12-07 16:50 UTC | The Uptime Kuma team deleted the post in our issue tracker |
| 2023-12-10 18:10 UTC | Uptime Kuma team released patch and this Advisory |
[^1]: deleted to prevent the spread of this vulnerability without there being a fix available
Impact
The impact of this vulnerability is moderate, as it enables attackers or unauthorized individuals to maintain access to user accounts even after the account password has been changed. This can lead to unauthorized data access, manipulation, or compromise of user accounts, posing a threat to the integrity and confidentiality of Uptime Kuma.
A better impact-analysis is included in https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma/security/advisories/GHSA-g9v2-wqcj-j99g
CVE-2023-49804 has a CVSS score of 6.7 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, high privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.23.9); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Remediation advice
To mitigate the risks associated with this vulnerability, we made the server emit a refresh event (clients handle this by reloading) and then disconnecting all clients except the one initiating the password change.
It is recommended to Update Uptime Kuma to >= 1.23.9.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-49804? CVE-2023-49804 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in uptime-kuma (npm), affecting versions < 1.23.9. It is fixed in 1.23.9.
- How severe is CVE-2023-49804? CVE-2023-49804 has a CVSS score of 6.7 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of uptime-kuma are affected by CVE-2023-49804? uptime-kuma (npm) versions < 1.23.9 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-49804? Yes. CVE-2023-49804 is fixed in 1.23.9. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-49804 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-49804 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-49804 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-49804? Upgrade
uptime-kumato 1.23.9 or later.